new home for the blog

http://www.perthcycling.com.au/southperthrouleurs

i have migrated the blog over to a new site.
it is not totally ready yet, but good enough to start with.
from now on i will be only posting to the new site.

ride routes 20th & 21st sept

we haven't had a play up by the tv stations for a while so i thought we would scoot past them this saturday and visit fatcat. we should again get a good run home with the breeze on our backs, but you know that means that it will be in our face first.

on sunday, mark, jerry, stu and i will be competing in the state team time trial (masters division) down at pinjarra. as stu was the only brave soul to venture out last week (and since he will be racing) i have mapped the same route as last week.

saturday 20th sept
tv stations

sunday 21st sept
kahuna & peet & patterson

sunday 14th sept - cyclo-sportif, york (spr team 01)

race report by peter.

as far as racing in perth goes, nothing can come close to the popularity of the cyclo-sportif events. however, as the organisors will tell you, it is not racing but a participation event. as such, the different format today gave others an opportunity to see how a real road race is run. instead of the normal team time trial format, this event would be a grand fondo mass start event. well mass enough to head off in groups of around 40 – 50 riders with 2 min between each group. as such the “no drafting between groups” rule was not in effect likewise the “stick together as a team rule”. this meant that we could form big groups and work together as well as drop team mates and not have to slow the whole group down to allow them back on. not that we were going to do it deliberately, but there would be other groups that would dictate the pace.

so, getting ahead of myself a bit again.

the event was to be held at york which, from previous experience, meant open roads with lots of crosswinds. it was not forecast to disappoint. the course would take us north to spencers brook before turning west towards toodyay, but not quite hitting the toodyay shire border. there is a bit of a dispute with the toodyay shire after they stuffed around the cyclo organisation earlier on in the year. it seems that 600 cyclists with supporters is an inconvenience to a town. the toodyay event this year was moved to lancelin. because of this, the advertised 108km event would be shortened to just under 100km.

so, as this event was not being run like a team time trial, we opened it up to anyone that we normally ride with as opposed to the normal race team. we were also keen to get a few riders into the 70km event so that they get a taste of racing rather than just coffee rides. at the end of the day we had a team of nine in the 100km event and a team of six in the 70km event. lorraine’s version of events for the 70km race have already been posted below, but well done to those guys and girls as for all of them it was the first event of this type they had been in.

in the 100km event along with myself, were, mark , mike, dr jerry, michael, dr mark, doug, ben and carlo. it was the latter four’s first time at a cyclo event and it would be interesting to see how they held up.

as we were a new team and had previously been riding under the rio tinto jersey, the organisors did not know our form and as such put us in the last group to go. i did a bit of negotiating and managed to get us into the third group alongside the current rio tinto riders. it would be interesting to see how this event would play out with such a wide range of skills present in each group.

we headed to the line and i noticed how tight my quads were. i had spent the entire previous day building a play-bench for ben and was now paying for the constant squatting and drilling and cutting wood. it was not a good sign for the start of a race but i was hoping that they would get better as the day wore on. pretty soon we were off.

our group was quite big and probably contained about 50 riders. with no real organisation the group was all over the place from the gun. mike suggested that we do single turns at the front and peel off, but i was keen to see how the rest of the group would actually work before i committed our team to dragging everyone around.

so, what happened instead was riders would go hard at the front and start to smash the group apart. we were guilty of that also and slowly but surely we dropped riders from our group and picked up others that started two minute in front of us. after about 10 kms i decided that i we needed a bit of control. we had already lost doug, dr mark and ben to an earlier surge up a undulation and they got caught in the back of the group. we had lost all the rio team except jens who had stuck with us on the surges. the majority of the group was made up of our spr team and a team from southern river bikeforce.

as i said i eventually got sick and tired of the chaos and rolled to the front and started yelling at people. we got a roll through happening. mike was concerned that we were chasing down carlo and jens who were currently up the road. i said that it was way too early and they would not stay away from here, so we will pull them back and just maintain control for now. some of the other teams were concerned that we would roll through too hard, but i reassured them that we would just do this to keep out of the wind.

it was all going fine, although some people needed a reminder every so often when they would not hold a wheel properly and let gaps appear. also, whenever something out of the ordinary (i.e. railway crossing or corner) appeared, the group would lose it impetus and have to be reminded to roll through again.

after the left hander at spencers brook, we came across a railway crossing that was at an angle. the rider next to me swerved to avoid the guy in front who had turned to get his wheel perpendicular to the tracks. the guy next to me had his front wheel slip out as the track was damp from the light mist that had been present all morning. he came down with a thump and jens narrowly avoided riding straight into him. we looked back briefly, but kept going.

we were now riding almost straight into a headwind and along the way we dropped a whole bunch more riders. pretty soon it was the southern river guys and us along with maybe a handful of different individuals that had lost their teams.

about halfway along this stretch, mike took off. not a deliberate attack, but i think he broke away on a small hill and just kept going. carlo soon bridged across to him and the two stayed out front for a while. now whenever a southern river (or ss riders as that was their race number) tried to move off the front, mark would just swing off with them causing the group to snake along the road. when asked why he wasn’t doing a turn, mark replied that he had teammates up the road so he wasn’t going to chase them down.

this continued for a while and i thought that it was a good opportunity to exploit it and try to bridge across to mike and carlo. i was on the back so sprinted to get around the group and managed to gap them as they were still stuffing around. i got about halfway across the gap and looked back to see jerry on the front of the pack, chasing me down. i sat up as i didn’t want mike and carlo to be caught. i asked jerry what he was doing and he asked me why i was chasing down my teammates. i said that i wasn’t as i had a gap and was trying to bridge across but he was the one that was dragging the rest of the pack along. we drifted to the back and had a talk about tactics. it was decided to just leave mike and carlo out there and see how they did.

from then on it was up to the ss boys to do the work, so we left well alone. they did an admirable job and mark commented how they didn’t once complain that we had stopped working. as we approached the turn around, the other two groups in front of us came blasting back along the road. that tailwind looked good and i couldn’t wait to taste it.

just before the turn we got to see how far ahead mike and carlo were, and the gap did not seem too great. at a right hand corner, one of the ss boys went left for some unknown reason, so the rest sat up to wait for him. i tried to take advantage by attacking to see if i could get across to mike. mark also made an effort, but when i looked back, they had started to get organised and where chasing. i sat up again and found my place at the back of the pack.

the tailwind turned out to be not quite a tailwind. as the road turned the wind came from every direction but mostly was blowing across the road. our group was strung out trying to get a draft and the ss boys were doing a good job of forcing us into the wind or risk riding on the other side of the road. i think we lost a couple more riders along this stretch and it was not surprising. if you didn’t get in the prime draft position, it was a hard ride.

after the turn at spencers brook, michael dropped to the back and was bouncing his back wheel in the tried and true method of checking whether it was flat. i had a look and it was pretty soft from what i could see. i bid him farewell and he stopped to change it… three times.

the remainder of the race was pretty much the same. the wind was now coming across from the right and was quite strong. the group echeloned across the road, but that really only gave protection to the first 4 or 5 riders before the rest of us had to line out behind. this meant that we were exposed to the wind for the rest of the ride.

mark had got around that problem by joining the ss boys in doing some turns at the front. he wasn’t chasing but gave a hand to set the pace and i allowed him to stay out of the wind.

i had no computer as i was still on chris’ bike so i didn’t know how far to go. it was probably the last 15 min or so that my legs began to cramp up on a small rise and i fell off the back. i was in damage control mode for the rest of the ride and just did what i could to get to the end. luckily i was picked up by a couple of total triathlon guys for the run into town and they gave me a nice draft home.

so, as is the format of cyclo-sportif, we all headed to the town hall for lunch. with over 600 riders, the logistics of getting everyone fed is quite a job, but they manage to pull it off at each event and I have never known anyone to go hungry. a few awards jerseys are given out for the bravest, strongest and stupidest riders as well as a bunch of raffle prizes.

so at the end of the day, the results were based on the combined time for the first four riders. I had missed the briefing as I was chasing down carlo to give him his race number and didn’t hear that bit of info. luckily for us mark and jerry stayed with the group and with mike and carlo up the road, my time didn’t matter. however, as we were actually competing against all the teams, not just the ones in our group, we probably should have just all worked together and may have got a better overall time. we will know for next time.

sunday 14th sept - kahuna & other climbs

ride report by stu

7:00 - leave front door - looks like rain. Go back inside to get rain jacket.
7:02 - leave front door again.
7:04 - arrive Coode St. Nobody there. Think. Am I so late that they have all left? Or, are the conditions so bad and am I so mad that nobody else is coming? Maybe.
7:06 - decide that I'm riding anyway, so cease pondering madness and weather, and follow the designated course in case other nutters abound.

Nice tailwind, so contemplate changing course to get a nice time up Welshpool Rd hill, then decide I don't relish such a big pain shot. Lots of lonely fun riding around the hills, so much so that eventual arrival at Kalamunda cafe prompts another loop down the zigzag and back up Gooseberry Hill. Further contemplation of forever riding in loops around the hills to avoid the strong headwind home, when reality strikes - no magic carpet is going to take me home. Damn. Go home. The End.

Hope you guys had more fun than that...

sunday 14th sept - cyclo-sportif, york (spr team 02)

race report by lorriane.

Well, for the first time team SPR would have a second team competing in a Cyclosportif event... A number of brave/foolhardy/adventuresome souls from the group had volunteered, succumbed to peer pressure or been shanghaied to join our merry little group of 6!

Despite a nervous sleep on Sat night I was up early on Sunday raring to go. With Lisa navigating (with numerous maps) Declan managed to find his way to Darlington, pick me up and make great time up to York. Once we got within 30k of York it was obvious from the convoy of cars carrying road bikes that it was going to be a BIG event! With registration, day licenses and team briefing complete all that was left was to eat chocolate brownies, make yet one more trip the toilet, saunter up the start line and wait nervously for our 9.13am start.

Our team were the last in a of a group of 4 or more that headed off and we easily passed a slower team without much effort. The pace out for the first 5k or so was pretty easy but it was obvious that the head wind for those up the front would be the biggest hurdle of the day. At this point our inexperience and miscommunication became our downfall and we ended up passing the CRT team in front of us and heading out on our own at a pace well in excess of our comfort zone. The next fatal blow was the sight of Declan's computer hitting the ground and him swinging around to retrieve it. The horrible wind and mix of abilities meant that we didn't last long with our foolhardy manoeuvre and less than 10k out our little team (no longer merry!) had scattered to the four winds!

%$#@!!! Think I... I know we didn't have to stick together for the Fondo but had not anticipated us breaking up this quickly. With Ronny and Melvyn somewhere out in front and everyone else behind me somewhere I was out in no-man's land on my own trying to cope with the wind. By the sounds of it most of us found small groups to tag onto and fend for ourselves as best we could. A couple of accidents (one with a group Melvyn had joined onto) on the way out were reminder to ride safely, especially with riders you don't know.

I can't describe the relief of turning round the cone at the 35k mark and finally feeling a tailwind...magic. So nice to finally be able to crank up the gears and have a fairly effortless 40k/hr+ ride for a while. At this stage I realised I must have passed Melvyn (at the the accident) as I saw him coming up on the other side of the road. I was enjoying the relative ease of riding when I saw the SPR "A" team cruise past me... "jump on" yells Pete. Damn right I thought, especially as I saw Melvyn had grabbed a lift too. Yee hah... Now this was more like it and I sped along for a good 5 min with the "big boys"... until the first little hill. Adios "A" team... it was nice while it lasted! On my own again... naturally! As I contemplated how tired my legs were starting to feel, out of nowhere appears Neil... Great! A familiar face to work with. Further ahead we saw that Melvyn had dropped off the "A" team. His legs were cramping up and he urged us to keep going. We got about halfway back before Neil also told me to keep going and I took off on my own... Again!

The rest of the ride was uneventful except for the return of a nasty crosswind and a spattering of rain. I crossed the line a little over 2hrs15 which, considering the wind and that I was was on my own for much of the time, I was pretty happy with. Ronny had been the first of our group to finish. He had found some good groups on the way and this, combined with some strong riding, had brought him home in just over 2 hours. We were closely followed by Neil, Melvyn, Declan and Lisa. Lisa had put in an amazing effort considering that she was suffering from considerable back pain on the day.

6 people out and 6 people back.... all still managing a smile on their face. A good measure of success I'd say.

Once we had collected our raffle and meal tickets we headed off to the town hall and met up with the rest of the Rouleurs for a very well deserved meal and rest. With over 660 riders plus all the support peolpe the place was packed. Well fed, prizes awarded and announcements made we meandered back to the cars, said goodbye to friends and team mates and headed home.

As my first Cyclosportif event, I must say I thought it was a great experience. Thanks to Peter for encouraging and organising us and thanks to everyone in the B team for getting involved and representing the Rouleurs.

Onwards and upwards... When's the next event??????

saturday 13th september - cresswell & herdsman

ride report by peter

UPDATE - apparently chris has an oblique fracture of his collar-bone from the fall.

only the hardcore were out this morning. the wind and storms overnight had scared the rest of the riders off and we were well down from the 60 starters from last week. a core group of around 20 made up of mostly old-timers were the only ones to brave the spring storms. however, once the clock struck seven, there were blue skies on three sides with the hint of a rain shower saved up for later.

our route today would take us to cresswell hill next to the yokine golf course, an old favourite from back when simon used to run the show. we would then make our way to a lap of herdsman “lake” before heading across to claremont for the run home through dalkeith and mounts bay road.

the run out was pretty uneventful. chris made the smart decision to get on the front early as we were heading out with a tailwind. we knew this would change as soon as our route turned further north, so he took advantage of it. ryan was still unpacking his car as we left, so we made him play catch-up.

as we turned off the woodrow ave and onto cresswell, the hill looms in front of you as the road is dead straight and you can see to the top. some of the guys had not done this road before as it has been quite a while since we have tackled it. with a race on tomorrow, i was not going to stress my legs out too much and let some of the other guys smash themselves to get tot eh top first.

with such a small group, the regroup point was a bus-stop where we could wait off the side of the road. a little jaunt along royal and main st brought us out onto powis and under the freeway so we could start our next sprint section around the so called lake.

the pace was not initially high and no-one was really keen to step on it, especially with the wind coming across the open expanse of the marsh lands. once someone finally did hit out, the group started to split and i had to bridge across with stu to join back up with the front runners. to his credit (and i will take a repayment later in this blog) ryan seemed to be on the front for most of the time as we took our three quarter lap of the lake.

towards the end, ryan and judd made a move and no-one reacted so they got a gap. i jumped out from the back of the pack and tried to catch up but only really made it about halfway there. we started approaching the turn so i backed off and the chasing group started to make some ground on me.

as i followed ryan and judd through the right hand turn of the round-about, i head a crunch behind me and looked around in time to see chris and james doing a synchronized slide along the road. although it was not raining as we were riding, the previous showers had made the round-about quite slick and they both hit the deck. james bounced straight back up but chris sat on the road for a bit longer, before we had to move him to let the traffic through. both had some scrapes down one side and chris had hit his head hard enough to crack the helmet. well that is what it is for. better that cracking your skull. so the two guys that are both about to become first time daddy’s and both who shouldn’t be allowed out with due dates so close (james tomorrow) were the guys that hit the deck. since i am still on chris’ old bike, i didn’t have the video camera going and missed the perfect shot of these guys coming down. bugger.

after a bit of a rest and check that both man and machine were functioning properly, we headed off again. as we headed south down selby, the rain started up and gave us all a bit of a drenching. nothing too bad though and we soldiered on.

the final run through dalkieth was, as always, a bit disjointed with no-one sure who was going to work and guys getting left on the front then guys smashing off the front. so pretty much the usual. i was content to sit at the back and leap forward to fill any gaps that opened up. as we came towards the final rolling hills i saw jens come flashing past. i thought he was making his decisive move, but in reality he was watching ryan and saw that he was going now. judd was next to me and being new to the group was asking about the etiquette on our run through dalkeith. i told him that if you are really lucky you can get through all the lights and make it to the end unscathed. he didn’t think that anyone could be that lucky. basically the majority of the group were back together once we hit mounts bay road.

so, ryan was on the front at the lights and we were giving him crap about clipping in properly so he can’t just drift to the back and get a good lead-out. it did no good and to his debit (pay back from earlier) he stuffed around and slow timed to make sure he was not doing any work on the front.

jens had taken advantage of the situation and had scampered up the road for a solo bid at victory. 3 kms is a long way by yourself, even with a tailwind, so we just let him go for a while. he did pretty good and it took a while to pull him back. the group lined out quickly and barista boy dave was pushing hise massive frame along to give us all such a good draft behind. as he began to fade, i yelled at the guys in front to roll through. by the time i reached the front, three riders later, no-one else was coming through.

well if i was going to do the work, it was not going to be for someone else. i ticked it up a few gears and sprinted off, way, way too early. i picked up jens and powered past trying to cancellara it to the end. a quick look back and i had a good gap, but the finish line was still around the next corner and i was fading fast. a flash past and ryan had time trialed off the front and was now gapping me with ease. i sat up and slowly the other riders were trying to individually chase ryan down but to no avail. he was gone.

no coffee stop for me as i was looking forward to a day of building a play bench (like a work bench but for a two year old) in ben’s room for all his imaginative play toys. it took all day but finally got it finished. with two south perth rouleurs teams in tomorrows cyclo-sportif event, it should be a good outing.

Handy Heads Up

Link by Ryan

I have to apologise before I post this link. It is a little story from a man who took his shaving a little further than just his legs (James, this may sway lis towards the legs.. Infact, she may say, 'if you are going to do your legs you should go all the way' (just to put you off smoothness)).

Enjoy the read and I hope to see you on the road tomorrow morning.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/lax/35274458.html

ride routes 13th & 14th september

with the predicted overnight storms on friday night, i am not expecting a record turnout for this saturday. we will hang close to the city as they are predicting very strong sw winds around +30 km/hr by 9:00. however, this will give us an exceptional run up mounts bay rd with a tail wind.

sunday there will be two south perth rouleurs teams competing in the cyclo-sportif at york. reports are that there are over 600 riders registered for the event. should be a big day. hopefully the south perth colours will be flying well. for any others left behind and looking for a hills ride, i have mapped out an easy one (to follow that is) up the kahuna then across to the observatory. enjoy.



saturday 13th september
cresswell & herdsman

sunday 14th september
kahuna & peet & patterson

New York City Bicycle Drag Race - Are these guys crazy?

If you have ever cycled to work you may have had to deal with some traffic.

These guys are either really silly, or highly skilled cyclists who have no where else to ride.

Take your pick but it makes for exciting viewing.

(Don't try this at home)

http://enspri.com/2008/09/04/new-york-city-bicycle-drag-race-are-these-guys-crazy/

sunday 7th september - greenmount & parkerville & mundaring

ride report by peter

a quick head count this morning and i think we had around thirty riders at the start. the nicer weather combined with some father’s day presents (the gift of being allowed to ride) may have assisted with the numbers.

today’s route was a pretty standard one with a trip up greenmount before a detour through parkerville finishing off with a passage past mundaring weir. we were looking at around 95 kms with quite a few climbs, but this particular route had quite a lot of transitional sections where we would be just cruising between climbs.

with my bike in the shop (long story) i had borrowed chris’ ridley for the week or so. this used to be the top of the line roadie, but now has been relegated to his wet weather bike. with the impending birth of a little chris less than three weeks away, my riding may be the last action this bike sees for a while. i did take out my time-trial bike on the saturday ride, but it is not really suited to the hill climbs and is very hairy on the descents.

so, what was the bike like??? well i don’t really know. it’s not that i didn’t ride it, it’s just that i can’t really tell the difference from one carbon to the other. i could crap on about lateral stiffness and vertical compliance, but really, it just rode like a bike. i really don’t know how the bike reviewers can pick little nuances between frames. i guess they are on different bikes often enough to be able to spot the difference.

we rolled out along great eastern hwy and through hazelmere to take the back way to the base of greenmount. this used to be the way we went when the group was quite small and needed to be off the main roads. we have since adapted the route as it used to jump on the bike path to access great eastern after we past underneath it. i think now we may be able to just stay on great eastern the whole way as the majority of it is double lane and traffic is light.

anyway, our convoluted way of reaching the base meant that we actually started the climb before we were back on the main road. once we turned and headed up the climb proper, brendan and i set the pace and were waiting for mike or someone to come around and attack. our tempo kept the group quite large and the lack of attacks meant the people hung on for longer than expected. brendan finally pushed a bit harder so that he could get in front of me and let some others come around. it wasn’t an attack and the amount of kms he has been punching out in readiness for the grafton-inverall race in two weeks, it was no surprise he said that his legs felt a little heavy. mike came around to force the pace, but again no-one really attacked. the group had settled to a final seven, with mike, brendan, carlo, ben, steve, mark and myself all sticking together. it was a good pace and i think i would have been in serious trouble if they had started to light it up halfway up the climb.

we regrouped at the entrance to the john forrest national park and did a pretend headcount. there seemed to be a few missing and apparently a handful turned off once we hit great eastern and headed back for a flatter ride.

the road through the park isn’t particularly nice and is dotted with pot-holes and soft edges but everyone seemed to get through ok. the road surface is very aggressive too so it tends to wear you down a bit as you really have to power through it. we had one turn to make up oxley rd and i fell back to make sure the group all got to the turn ok. the climbs starts within 100m of the turn so i accelerated around the group and started the climb with as much momentum as i could to try to gain an advantage. it is a steep, tight climb and you can’t see the next part of it till you turn the corners. if you have not done it before, it can be quite demoralising.

mike and carlo sped past me like i was standing still and headed up the climb. i was trying to set myself a tempo to survive to the top when ben casually came past. he commented that the boys in front could not possibility keep that pace up the whole way. i was hoping for a bit of a self destruction, but it never happened. brendan also picked me up before the climb reached the plateau and the four of them stayed in front once we hit the regroup point at the summit of the next uphill pinch.

we picked our way though the back blocks of hovea and through parkerville to the extra bonus climb that would take us back to great eastern hwy. brendan and i were setting the pace up the first couple of pinches but no-one was really getting away. steve came around at one point but brendan pit in a bit more power to put him in his place. no real serious challenges on this climb as since it was a bonus one, we were just tempo riding the majority of it.

at the regroup at great eastern we lost a few more riders. the departure of holly and bec along with josie and sarah cut our female riders down to two remaining. a couple of the guys also called it a day opting for the nice descent down greenmount to the inevitable slug past mundaring weir. in retrospect, it may have been the safer option.

as we came along phillips rd just out side of mundaring, disaster number one struck. we were neatly formed up two abreast, no traffic, no wind, no really pace. i was just moving to the front to let the pace makers know where we would regroup when i heard the sound of gravel under foot and a bit of a yell. i look back to see dr mark had got his wheel off the edge of the bitumen and suddenly sliding out from under him. he comes crashing down in front of the riders behind and some had nowhere to go. mike careened into him and i saw him take a forward/side roll over the top and carlo also headed straight into the carnage and over the top. bruce (who was out for his fathers day present) had to brake hard and managed to stay upright, but smashed his wheel straight into dr mark’s shoulder.

we dragged everybody off the road and got the bikes clear as well. dr mark said that he was ok, but we wanted to wait a bit for the adrenaline to wear off a bit to make sure he really was. there was a bit of running repairs with some bent brake levers but everything else seemed in order. i got dr mark to rotate his cranks a bit to make sure that the rear derailleur was ok. it looked a bit crooked, but it seemed to run through ok. we saddled up and kept going, thankful that there were not real injuries and no blood at least.

the group seemed a lot more subdued as we headed towards mundaring weir and the pace was reasonable. it picked up a bit as we headed down that final dip and climb that precedes the long run into the weir. i was hanging back making sure that everyone was ok and talking to brendan and steve. we could pick up most of the group on the main climb so were not too concerned about the gap opening up. as the road pitched up i came past dr mark who was changing down gears to take the climb. there was a distinctive clinking noise that i didn’t think sounded good, but dr mark did not seem concerned. i came up over the climb and briefly looked back to see him stopped by the side of the road with brendan and steve looking at his bike. brendan waved me back and what i saw would make any bike owner cringe.

that distinctive clinking noise was the rear derailleur touching the spokes as the wheel went around. it had taken a blow when he went down and the drop out must have been bent sufficiently well enough to move the derailleur off line. it caught in his spokes and ripped the derailleur off and was sitting above the cluster when i got there. no chance of a ride home now hence disaster number two. dr mark’s first option for a pick up was his wife who had gone to melbourne so this made it hard. after a few phone calls he managed to get a taxi to come and get him. he told the three of us to keep going as he would be ok.

we were in no mood to chase down the group and just settled into a easy rhythm on the climb out of the weir. towards the top we picked up davina who was not having a good day in the saddle. it was pretty much a tempo ride to the coffee shop so nothing to really write about.

the return trip was a bit more exciting, and i was keen to see if chris’ bike would be different on the descent to mine. we almost all kept together for the majority of lesmurdie rd so by the time we hit the fast section of welshpool, we had a group of about eight. as the pace increased past the servo, i got stuck behind jens and anna who wer not accelerating as fast as the others. i came around and pushed hard to try to make up the ground between us. by the time we reached the bottom i was about 75 metres in arrears and they were still working to extend the gap. i have no idea of my speed on the descent as there are no speedo’s on this bike, but it felt fast.

stuck in no-man’s land, i had a choice of sit up and wait for anna and jens or push on and try to catch a bunch of about five riders. i had nothing to lose so i decided to switch to time-trial mode and see what i could do. it felt like ages and i didn’t really seem to make a dent on the gap. i was starting to feel lactic in the legs but thought that i should just push on regardless. as we turned past the vet clinic, i noticed that i was gaining fast as the bunch had split and was chasing two others. i powered past and came up behind brendan and mark (i think). i still had momentum to i just kept going till we approached the lights at tonkin and mark and brendan came around me again.

all safely down from the hill and it was easily an extra 5 degrees warmer on the flat. we had a nice run home made even nicer with no-one attempting a sprint along welshpool as we headed towards maccas. it looked like everyone was saving it for the berwick finale. as we turned onto berwick i ended up on the front as traffic dictated that we needed to go single file. as we got a good run on the lights, i ended up on the front all the way to the end.

as we came down the hill towards maccas, i was constantly looking behind me to see when the move was going to come. brendan was on my wheel and i was mostly worried about him coming around. someone shouted something and i looked back to see heiko and anna coming around the pack with a lot of momentum from the hill. i jumped up and started sprinting before the past me, but they still managed a gap. i held close to anna who was dropping off heiko’s wheel and yelled that i was coming on the left as there was still a gap. i bridged to heiko and came around into fresh air not far from the finish line. brendan had a spot of indecision on whether to stick on anna’s or my wheel, but came with me to slingshot past at the last minute for the win.

so, apart from the issues with dr mark it was a good ride and i think we were lucky that their weren’t any serious injuries. his bike was looking at the chopping block anyway as he has a new one almost ready to go, but drop outs are made to be replaceable for this exact reason. as for chris’ ridley, i guess that the final sprint showed that the bike is quite stiff as i feel i managed to get a lot of power down when we were going hard. it will be interesting to see when i get my fondriest back if i can actually tell the difference.

saturday 6th september - hale rd (reverse)

UPDATED with final sprint below

ride report by peter.

wow, what a surprise when i turned up this morning. there would have to be at least 60 people wanting to ride today. as usual this meant that we would be having issues with the group getting caught at lights, but you can’t have everything going your own way. we had an extra ten or so riders from the squadra barista joining us today. a couple are fairly regular, but this time a whole bunch more decided to come and play. actually, from what was written on their google group site, they were coming to “smash us”. we would see how that would go.

there was some talk of splitting into two groups from amongst the pack. i am all for that and can even map two routes that take in extra kms for the fast group, but we still need someone to step up and want to lead the second group. also, who determines which riders ride in the first group and which ones ride in the second group. this has always been our problem and we don’t really seem any closer to a solution.

so, i was on the time-trial bike this morning as my regular roadie was visiting aldo the carbon specialist in perth. the seatpost has fused to the frame and is not going anywhere. i took it back to riders choice to get them to have a go at fixing it as it is where i bought it from (i don’t get everything off the net), but they said they would probably take it to aldo at quantum cycles anyway. so, not ideal for group riding, but at least this bike kept me on the road.

we were heading out to guilford and kalamunda road to return via hale road, welshpool and shepperton road. it would be fairly sedate for the majority of the ride but we would light it up on the way back through welshpool.

as previously stated, we did get split at the lights lots of times and had to slow the group down a lot to make sure everyone was on board. i was playing sheep dog again with many trips from the front to the back but this time i had to sprint along in the other lane to get to the front before a car came along. everything went along fine, though i didn’t really get much of an opportunity to chat with anyone much at all.

once we turned south onto hawtin rd from kalamunda road, stu and judd both continued up kalamunda hill for some extra training. the trip down hawtin/hale was pretty good. some of the faster boys had moved to the front and the pace picked up a bit but not too extreme that we were dropping anyone.

we turned onto welshpool and barista boy nick and i were on the front. the wind was now on our backs and we were starting to line up for home. as we turned onto welshpool proper, and onto the first sprint section of the day, nick decided that his lack of form lately was not going to be much good at the front and slipped back. i thought that i would try to take advantage of the time trial bike and got down on the bars and started to smash myself for as long as i could.

we were hovering around the 50km/hr mark and started to string the group out. i pushed on as long as i could before someone finally came around me so i backed off. as soon as i stopped pushing, my body realised how much it had done and began to shut down on me. i slipped back through the pack who continued hard up the road. as the last rider came past i accelerated to try to get on the final wheel, but could not hold on. i was pretty much to the point where i wanted to spew, but managed to hold it down.

i looked back and saw the remnants of the pack once it had split. i was pretty much caught in between in no-mans land and was still trying to get my breath back. we managed to sneak through the lights at leach hwy and i was beginning to make up a bit of ground. i was hoping that the lights at shep rd would be my saviour, but they turned out to split the pack again, as only half the front group got through. i caught up as did the remaining split.

we had a big job ahead of us if we were going to catch them, but i was sure that they were going to be going damn hard in front of us. we tried and rolled through a few times, but eventually got caught by the lights near the causeway and pretty much destroyed any hope of catching them.

we now had our own sprint to worry about and i decided that i was going to see if i could time-trial it along riverside drive. i kept the pace high to make it hard for anyone to sprint off the front and managed to stay at the front. as we approached the “finish line” i saw a shadow start to come around. i clicked it up the last few gears and looked across to who it was. i gave paul a bit of sarcastic encouragement, but then pushed hard to make sure he couldn’t come around my wheel at the end.

so, if anyone in the front group want to e-mail me what happened at the end, i will append it to this post.

UPDATE

finale by heiko

After we split the group at one of the lights towards the final sprint Ryan tried to get a gap between the group and himself by pulling up the short hill at the Mercedes car dealer. I tried to jump on his wheel with a few riders behind me as well who took the burden of chasing down Ryan off me for the last few meters. We had to slow down at the lights after the descend in Victoria Park. So that move didn’t really work out all that well for him.

The group picked up speed again and it started to get really fast booking it along the Causeway and the turn off to Riverside Drive. I was trying to be not too far back in the group, but also not too far at the front as my sprinting capabilities aren't too well just yet. As everyone prepared for another sprint and I was thinking about playing the Fabian Cancellara card, Chris came storming past me, obviously with the same thought. Nevertheless his break-away trial wasn’t successful as Ryan overtook him with a few people behind himself. After passing Chris at the end of the bunch behind sprinting Ryan the speed picked up even more, or it might just felt like that for my legs.

They were up and away, battling themselves for the win at the front. I rolled in somewhere between the middle and end of the front group, I reckon that also somehow qualifies for the term no-mans land. So it is kind of blogging from behind, again.

Apfel-Zimt Muffin und eine heisse Schokolade (apple cinnamon muffin and a hot chocolate) at the coffee shop finished that ride.

Respect

So, I rode to work today, as I do four days a week. I do this for a number of reasons but the best one is that it gives me some time to clear my head both at the start and end of the day. It’s almost meditative sometimes particularly if doing some intervals or focusing on another goal for the ride.
Anyway as happens occasionally some peanut decides to test my nerves by seeing how close they can get to me as they pass me on my right shoulder. OK I figure that’s it for the day relax and enjoy the rest of the ride. But I wouldn’t be writing this if that was the case now would I?
This same or similar happens a couple of more times on the way to work and I’m starting to think there is a vendetta against me. I put it down the law of averages and think no more of it until my ride home.
After getting cut off two more times on the way home and having a couple more nerve testers I am pretty pi$$ed.
This gets me to thinking about respect on the road and the main reason this behaviour grind my gears. These people appear to have no respect for cyclists as road users. Hopefully this will change over time but there I guess there will always be the minority.
I am sure I will continue to yell at some of these guys , particularly when I feel the actions have been premeditated or particularly uncalled for. More importantly, I will aim to earn the respect of other road users by simply obeying the road rules, as I expect them to, and hope you will do the same.
See you on the road

angry cyclist stabs woman in dianella

opinion by peter.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/05/2356587.htm

you know what really pisses me off about this headline? it's that it chucks everyone who rides a bike in the same big basket. now when people drive past us in their cocoons of comfort, they are going to be worried about a group of us brandishing hunting knifes and stabbing them.

already you hear reports of drivers being "intimidated" by groups of cyclists. yes intimidation. a group of guys in tight lycra make you feel threatened as you speed by us in 2 tonnes of steel and plastic.

as for the rampaging, knife wielding cyclist. the victim allegedly told him to slow down, so he must have been on the footpath. other news reports said that he was about 17 - 24 and riding a white mountain bike, with a faded baseball cap, jacket and jeans. sounds like most of the guys that i would label cyclist.

so anyway, she tells him off, so he (allegedly) pulls out a hunting knife and stabs her repeatedly. know, i don't know about you, but i am a bit more picky when it comes to what knife i take riding with me. colour coordination is essential and until csc bring out a hunting knife, i doubt that half the guys in our group would dare bring along a non-matching knife. with the exception of ryan, who would deliberately bring a green knife to clash with the red blood.

so early morning, bogan clothes, mountain bike (probably stolen), big f-off knife. i would say that he is probably just returning home from a bit of light breaking and entering. the big knife makes him feel like a man if he feels threatened by a 56 year old woman, and in turn can be used to jimmy open any of the old style house windows in the area. unless it was the guy pictured above just returning from a hard night of knife sharpening. if you got in front of him and made him stop suddenly, i'm sure you would get stabbed repeatedly.

so, cyclist...i think not.

headline should read - bogan stabs woman then escapes on bike

or - journalist tries to fuel fire with misleading headlines

ride routes 6th & 7th september

we are going to tackle hale rd again on saturday, but this time in reverse. this means that it should be downhill from kalamunda to welshpool which will make it more fun. we will then go hard along welshpool and again along shep rd into the city. don't forget to vote afterwards

sunday is fathers day so this year ask for the present of being allowed to come out and ride with us instead. it will be better for you than socks or jocks.

saturday 6th sept (state election)
hale rd (reverse)

sunday 7th sept (father's day)
greenmount & parkerville & mundaring weir

cyclo-sportif

ok, so what is cyclo-sportif. well details can be found here, but i will give you the quick run down.

what is it?
it is racing, but it's not racing. generally it is a team time trial but you can't drop riders, you must stay together and you must all finish together. if one person gets a flat, you all stop. if someone is struggling on the hills, you all slow down. there are no winners and the final times are not even listed in fastest to slowest, rather just in the order that the teams departed.

like a team time trial, the teams head off at intervals and you cannot draft from other teams if you catch them. there are some very competitive teams out there, but the main aim seems to be to have fun riding with the people you like riding with. it is because of that, it has become the fastest growing club in australia. the last event at pinjarra had close to 600 riders and that was even with quite a few opting to do the proper wacf race on at the same time.

the next race.
the next event at york is a "grand fondo". this is a different format and is a cross between a saturday group ride and the great perth bike ride. basically, they will seed the teams and set them off in groups of about 40 with a couple of minutes between the groups. the way this differs is two fold. firstly, you are allowed to draft off the other teams, and secondly, you do not have to stick together in your teams. each person is given an individual timing band and their own time will be recorded.

how much?
well money is always going to be an issue and in this case a single race is going to cost a bit if you don't already have a licence. each event costs $40 and for this you get a meal and a ticket in the raffle. if you already have a racing licence then that is it as your licence will cover your insurance. if not then a day licence is available for $18. if you think that you would like to do the next race as well, then you can in fact join the cyclo-sportif club and get a licence (non-racing - i.e. can be used for cyclo-sportif but not wacf events) and i think if you join this late in the season, they may have a deal on.

what about spr?
well we are going to enter a couple of teams if possible. there are three distances (108km, 70km and 40km). the usual race team will enter the 108km and anyone is free to join us if they wish. if we get enough interest, then we will enter a team in the 70km distance. if there is not enough for a team (5 min, 9 max) then those people can enter as individuals.

how to enter.
well for now it is pretty simple. if you have an south perth rouleurs jersey and want to play with us then send me an e-mail with the distance that you would like to ride in. southperthrouleurs@hotmail.com
entries need to be in by tuesday 9 september 2008, 10.00pm wst so i will need to know by the end of this coming weekend so i can organise teams.

it is generally a good day out and you will be amazed at how many other cyclists there are out there and how many thousands of dollars worth of bikes can be found in any one place. it would be good to get a bunch of spr riders out there to show off our colours.

sunday 31st august - kahuna & canning mills

ride report by peter

a quick look at the current weather on the web this morning showed a nice 9 degrees. i was a bit dubious as it did seem cold in the house when i got up but at least it was not showing something like 2 deg. it was a bit brisk, but nothing to really complain about and i was sure today’s route would get things warm as soon as we hit the hills.

the city2surf claimed a few of our regular riders today with ryan, rob and heiko deciding that they would rather run than ride. we could hear the pre-race festivities from our side of the river while we waited for the allotted hour to arrive. jumping ahead a bit, i did ask mike b later why he wasn’t doing the run today. he said that he gets disappointed that he can’t beat his best time anymore. he came second one year with a time of 36min. that was quite a few years ago though. kind of makes sense now why he is so fast in the hills.

anyway, we still had a good group of regulars and some return riders like josie toe the line this morning. about 15 riders all up i would say, with dr paul and dr greg starting with us, but doing their own thing once we hit the hills. the route today would be a challenging one. up the kahuna and down urch before up the rest of peet rd to rolleystone high school. down brookton hwy and through some back streets before up canning mills rd to join back up with the top of the kahuna, before the usual way to kalamunda via mundaring weir rd. four climbs and some bonus’ for a total of just under 100 kms. hopefully it wouldn’t rain.

so we rolled out and headed towards albany hwy. the pace was pleasant and gave everyone an opportunity to have a chat. as we past carousel shopping centre, steve got a flat, but told us not to bother waiting as he had an issue with his tyre anyway. i was in two minds as we usually wait for flats, but we were still close to the city and he would be right to get home if he was in trouble. we left him to his misery and pushed on.

as we approached the base of the kahuna, there was someone doing laps of the roundabout just before it. it turned out to be clare who was patiently waiting for us to arrive. the road up the kahuna starts off gentle before it kicks up to it’s average gradient and luckily it was the gentle section we were on when my phone rang. it turned out to be steve, who had fixed his flat and was now looking for us. he had not done the kahuna before and i was trying to give him directions while i started the climb proper (gotta love hands free kit). i tried to make it as clear as i could in between breaths, and i also gave him other directions in case he got lost. he said that he would call in about half and hour when we should have got to the second regroup point. i wasn’t sure that we would see him again.

so the group hit the hill and everyone settled into their respective positions according to climbing ability. the kahuna can be quite steep in places but also contains a number of shallower gradient sections (i can’t really say flat) that either give you respite, or break your rhythm. i find that it breaks my rhythm as i tend to spin out more and use different muscle groups that then also start hurting.

mike and stu found their place at the front and i jumped on their wheel to try to hold on as long as i possibly could. it seemed like a long time and i was pretty happy, but in reality, it was probably still on the first steep section on the climb. they began to power away with that slow steady “grind out the hill” style that both of them have. as they got further and further away it was clear that i was not going to be able to catch back on without some type of motor attached to my bike. i began to wish that i was 50 year old. both those guys are well on the wrong side of 40 and we cannot keep up with them in the hills. i hope that i am going that strong when i grow up. however, i am thinking that it probably has more to do with the years of marathon running that both these whippets had done in their earlier years.

so i am drifting back and am trying to set myself a nice tempo. i look back and find that ben is gaining on me and soon over takes me. bugger. i continue my tempo and allow ben a bit more space ahead of me. i am hoping that once we hit the shallower gradient towards the top, i can regain a bit of ground. i manage to up my pace and catch back up to ben. i put in a hard, but consistent effort and manage to shake him from my wheel before we hit the top. mike had dropped stu before the top, and i ended up within 75 - 100 metres of stu by the time we reach the regroup point.

as we regrouped, both the effort of the climb and the increasing daylight meant that it was beginning to warm up. holly (pictured) took off her vest to reveal a fat cyclist jersey underneath that matched her fatty socks. if you haven’t heard of fatty, there is a link on my “other blogs” to the right and even though he blogs mostly about mountain biking, he has many an insight into riding and balancing his passion with his wife’s illness. it makes you realise how good we have it sometimes.

so we headed for the next climb up urch and peet. this at least was preceded by a nice descent down part of urch before the road kicked up again. once it did, a bunch of riders like stan, ben and melvyn took advantage of their momentum and started to smash it up the other side. stu also came past and i was determined not to give him too much head start, so jumped across to his wheel. mike also made his way up through the pack and was on my wheel when we all joined ben. melvyn and stan had dropped back by the time we turned the corner onto peet and ben managed to hold on for a little way before he also fell off the back. the boys must have been kind to me, or i was finally warm after the first climb as i managed to stay with them to the top.

as we crested the hill, mike lead us out towards the high school and to the state champs finish line. after a few turns, mike pushed for the last effort up the climb with stu and i sucking wheels to get a good lead-out. stu eventually went so i jumped on his wheel and waited for the last 50 m to come around for the sprint. i barely had enough to stay in front of him as he also turned it up a notch heading towards the line. it’s good, as we both need practice sprinting for that line as two races this year had already finished there and both came down to a bunch sprint. a couple of riders later, steve also made it to the line. he had come up the kahuna but then across chevin rd and into the top of peet road to meet up with the rest of the group.

after a regroup we headed down brookton hwy to give the legs a bit of respite. we don’t often climb up brookton and i remembered why as we were descending. it is not really that hard as we had to pedal quite a bit to maintain speed on the descent. we turned just before the road joined back up with albany hwy and took a couple of back streets. steve asked whether there was a house down here i was looking at buying as it did seem a bit off the beaten track for us. unfortunately, no, we were on the right road and soon we were at the base of canning mills rd.

this is the steeper side of the kahuna and averages about 9% for the steep section. it flattens off towards the top and is not as long as the kahuna, but much, much harder. however, it is fairly consistent and does not contain many “flat” spots that break the rhythm when climbing. you can set yourself a nice pace to the top, but it is when you want to chase others that you will get into trouble and blow-up.

i know that stu headed up the road pretty early in the climb and i had nothing to go with him. ben caught and past me about halfway up after i started to fade. steve surprised me with how fast he came past, and i expected him to blow up as he had never done this climb before and didn’t know what was around the corner. luckily for him, and probably more testament to his ability, he maintained a good pace to the top and didn’t pop. after that, my memory gets a bit fuzzy and i remember there being another rider up the road. it was probably mike, but i can’t be sure as i know that stu stayed away from everyone on the climb. i just ground my way to the top and was happy to be there.

this climb took a bigger toll on the group and we had to wait a bit longer for all the riders to come in. it is a really challenging climb so we don’t do it that often. but to do it as the third climb in a set of four is just cruel. but sometime you have to be cruel to… get a laugh… i mean be kind. it will make all the riders stronger in the long run so it can’t be that bad.

as we turned to follow the rest of the kahuna rd back towards pickering brook, josie took off back down the hill to head home. her knee was not feeling 100% so she did not want to risk it with another climb. the rest of us ambled our way through the back blocks of canning mills and on to pickering brook. holly had said that she was going to skip the final climb and go straight to coffee. peer pressure made sure that she came with us in the end.

on the little rolling hills (that seem big by now to your legs) stu managed to get away a bit and headed into the final climb with about 50 m or so. jerry went hard as soon as the hill started and thought that he could get some advantage that could be whittled away. in reality he just caught and past stu and paid the price to get there. mike came up from behind and i jumped on his wheel as he moved up behind stu. the four of us started the climb together but it would not stay that way for long. jerry was first to step off after mike moved to the front and set the pace that he was comfortable with. i hung onto stu’s wheel as long as i could and thought i was doing really well when we reached the part where there is a fence and wall on the right. after doing this climb a hundred times, i know that it is not far to the “flat” section on this climb. unfortunately, i also know that the road pinches up ever so slightly more that what we were climbing.

the pace and pitch was too much for me and i also had to step off the train. i tried to set myself a tempo with the hope that i could catch back up when it flattened out. i looked back and saw jerry not that far back and thought that we could work together to catch stu and mike. i eased up my pace and let him get on before starting to wind it up along the “flat”. i thought that if i could out in a hard effort, then jerry could smash the last bit of the hill and maybe catch them as they were still in sight. jerry had the same idea and came around me early and set a high pace. i went as the road got steeper again and realised that i really didn’t have that much left in my legs. i made it almost to the top before jerry came back past me within 10 metres of the kom line. we were probably 100 metres behind stu and mike.

as the rest of the group came into the coffee shop i was surprised to see bec finishing to high in the pack. she said that she finally was feeling good and managed to go hard on the last climb to beat in half the guys. the coffee stop was good today and soon we were off and running again. a nice descent down welshpool and we stayed together for much of it. i pushed hard on the last bit of hill to make sure the speedo clocked over 80 km/h and came past the rest of the group. it did cost me dearly as i then had nothing when jerry and stan headed up the road together. i jumped in behind the others and sat in for the majority of the chase. as we approached the curve in the road, i found my legs enough to do a cancellara and time trialed across the gap to come past the boys at the front. by the time we got through the lights at the highway, the group was all back together.

no sprint at the end of welshpool and we had it saved up for the final push up berwick. i was on the front (again) leading into the sprint when brett and anna came flying past on the slight rise before the lights at george st. i didn’t react as i was sure that they would get stuck at the lights. as they were waiting behind a left turning car when the lights went green, i jumped into the right hand lane and sprinted past them and up over the hill. i looked back and saw jerry closing fast but thought that i had to keep going to stay away. i did ease back on the descent to conserve as much energy for when he jumped, but realised that i probably didn’t have much left in reserve. as i started to run out of puff he came along side and we both looked at each other. i shrugged indicating that i was done, but he didn’t go as he thought that it was mean making me do all the work to just take out the final 100 metres. i was cool with that so we ambled towards maccas. however, when i looked back i saw bec coming off steve’s wheel and heading towards us fast. we didn’t really have enough time to react and she had way too much momentum so overtook us for the final sprint win of the day.

so a good day but a tough one with the number and severity of the climbs we tackled. i can’t say that we will do an easy one next week, as we must punish those that had forsaken us to go running instead. also, since it is fathers day, the blokes should be allowed to stay out longer to do a big ride. i know it doesn’t work like that, but it is worth a try.

2008 Great Bike Ride

Early days yet, but the date has been set for the 2008 Great Bike Ride.
The date is November 23, 2008. No information on the website yet but one can register for email updates.

Details here.